Volunteers needed to help wipeout graffiti in Gulfton

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, April 29, 2004

For the second time this year, a series of multi-colored spray marks are giving Duncan a headache at her Gulfton-area Kroger Signature store. This time, however, the general manager is enlisting the help of about 30 students to take back the store's walls and the community.

Duncan is calling on the United Minds youth group, which, in turn, is calling out to the community for help.

From 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, United Minds members and community volunteers will clean four to six graffiti-infested properties in the Gulfton community, including Duncan's Kroger store.

Most of the paint that will be used will be donated either by the property owners or by the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office. Kroger will provide refreshments for all volunteers, Duncan said.

The date coincides with the National Join Hands Day, when young people and adults across the country will unite to cleanup their neighborhoods to make them safer places to live.

Initiated in 1997, United Minds members include teens like 17-year-old William Quintanilla, who fears for his 8-year-old sister, Odalys Penado, every time he sees more graffiti appearing in his neighborhood.

"Gangsters are marking their territory," he said.

He is not alone.

Jessica Figueroa, a seventh-grader at Jane Long Middle School, and her three siblings Adrian Figueroa, 12, Marbeli Figueroa, 14, and Corina Herrera, 17, joined United Minds less than two months ago. Like many past and present Gulfton-area residents, Jessica Figueroa said she is looking forward to the day when they can move out of the Gulfton area.

From this fear Quintanilla came up with the idea for the first Gulfton Graffiti Wipeout. He approached Tanya Makany, United Minds' youth coordinator, with the idea to cleanup the Gulfton area earlier this year.

"This is our community, this is where we live," Quintanilla said.

As it turns out, his timing was very much in sync with Duncan's, who proposed a similar project at a community meeting. Makany connected the dots and made the cleanup effort a reality.

This is not the first time United Minds and Kroger have worked together.

In the past, Kroger has been a constant and supportive backer of the youth group's efforts.

"A lot of those kids end up coming to work for me," Duncan said.

Quintanilla and the other members of United Minds are hoping that the community will join in and help make their day a success. Depending on what the overall turnout of the event is, Makany is considering making graffiti wipeouts a regular part of her group's community service projects.

About United Minds

United Minds is a youth-centered organization established as a partnership between the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office and the Weed & Seed Gulfton initiative, a community outreach government organization.

Every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. United Minds students meet at Burnett Bayland Park, at Gulfton and Chimney Rock, to tackle community issues in the 77081 ZIP code. The group is open to youth ages 12 to 17 who either live or attend school within that ZIP code.